The Tragic Is Always The Tragic: Kierkegaard And Lacan On A Modern Antigone

Abstract

Kierkegaard draws a distinction between antiquity and modernity, based on the twin concepts of objectivity versus subjectivity, and objective determinants versus subjective determinants. But what about the notion of the tragic? Kierkegaard situates it within the dialectic field between those objective and subjective determinants. This chapter first takes a brief look at the ancient tragedy, where the notion of dialectics is equally fruitful. Subsequently, it draws from Jacques Lacan, as we dwell in some greater detail on an example of a truly modern tragedy. Eventually, the chapter returns to Kierkegaard?s ?modern Antigone? as a reflection of the ancient tragedy in the modern tragedy, in order to demonstrate ?how the characteristic feature of the tragic in ancient drama is incorporated in the tragic in modern drama in such a way that what is truly tragic will become apparent?. Keywords: Jacques Lacan; Kierkegaard; modern Antigone; tragic